Music-roll cabinet



G. MERLO.

MUSIC ROLL CABINET.

APPLICATION mu) MAR. 31. 1921.

1 ,396, 378. Patented 8, 1921.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

.MVf VTOB 0 f & Guido Merle.

AM; W

G. MEHLO.

MUSIC ROLL CABINET.

APPLICATION HLED MAR. 31, 1921.

1,396,378. Patented 8, 192.1.

a SHEETSSHEET 2.

Z3 Z7 if I zz 6 Guido Marla.

G. MERLO.

MUSIC ROLL CABINET.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 31, 1921.

Patented Nov. 8, 1921.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

UNITED STATES GUIDO MERLO, OF BRISTOL, PENNSYLVANIA.

MUSIC-ROLL CABINET.

Application filed March 31, 1921.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GUIno MERLO, a citizen ofItaly, subject of the King of Italy, residing at Bristol, in the countyof Bucks and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Music-Roll Cabinets, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to improvements in cabinets and while'designedprimarily for embodiment in a cabinet for storing player piano musicrolls, may equally as well be employed in cabinets for the storage ofvarious other articles, or in connection with various other articles offurniture embodying two or more drawers arranged one above another.

One of the primary objects of the present invention is to provide meansfor automati- Cally returning the drawer of a cabinet such as abovereferred to to closed position after it has been drawn open and themusic roll or the like removed therefrom or replaced therein.

Another object of the invention is to provide in a cabinet of thegeneral class mentioned embodying a plurality of drawers arranged oneabove another, means common to all of the drawers and embodying but asin gle tension means adapted to automatically return to closed positionany one of the drawers which has been drawn open and released.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a cabinet constructed in accordancewith the present invention, the door of the cabinet being shown swungopen;

Fig. 2 is a vertical front to rear sectional View through the cabinettaken in a vertical plane with one tier of drawers lllustrating one ofthe drawers drawn out to open position;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view through the cabinet taken in aplane above one row of drawers;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one of the drawers removed from thecabinet;

Fig. 5 is a detail view partly in plan and partly in horizontal sectionillustrating the tension means for returning the drawers to closedposition;

Fig. 6 is a vertical transverse sectional view on the line 66 of Fig. 5.

The cabinet embodying the invention may be of any desired dimensions andmay em- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented N 0v. 8, 1921. Serial No. 457,365.

brace any desired number of drawers arranged in one or more tiers.

I he cabinet embodying the invention comprises sides 1, a back 2, a top3, and a bottom 4; the cabinet being open at its front but provided witha door 5 hinged at one side of the open front, as at 6, and adapted tobe swung to position to completely close sald front and thus excludedust from the interior of the cabinet. In order to support the drawerswhich are housed Within the cabinet, a plurality of shelves 7 isarranged within the cabinet one above another and extend between theside walls 1 by which they are supported and extend from the open frontof the cabinet rearwardly to a point adjacent the rear wall or back 2but terminating short thereof so as to provide a space 8 within the rearportion of the cabinet to accommodate and house the drawer tensioningdevice which will presently be described. Cleats 9 are secured upon theupper sides of the shelves 7 and extend in parallel relation to eachother and to the side walls 1 and are suitably spaced to receive andguide between them the drawers which are slidably disposed upon theshelves, and other cleats 10 are secured in vertical parallel positionto the forward edges of the shelves and divide, in conjunction with thesaid forward edges of the shelves, the open front of the cabinet into aplurality of compartments or pigeonholes 11 designed for the individualreception of the drawers of the cabinet. In order to limit the rearwardmovement of the drawers into the compartments 11, cleats 12 are securedupon the rear edges of the shelves 7 and project slightly above theplanes of the upper sides of the respective shelves so as to provideabutment-s against which the rear ends of the drawers may strike whenthe drawers are slid inwardly. One of the drawers is clearly illustratedin Fig. 4 of the drawings and indicated in general by the numeral 13 andthe same comprises a bottom 14 having upstanding sides 15 which arerelatively shallow except at and adjacent their rear ends where they aregradually increased in height, as at 16, and are connected by a rear endwall 17 The forward ends of the sides 15 are connected by a relativelyshallow front end wall 18 which may be provided with a finger ring orknob or any other suitable device 19 which may .be readily grasped forthe purpose of pulling the drawer outwardly for the purpose ofremovingor replacing-. the music rollor other article to be stored. Byreference to Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings, it will be observed thateach drawer 13 is received and housed within a respective one ofthecompartments 11 and is guided for sliding movement upon the respectiveshelf which constitutes the bottom of the compartment and between therespective cleats 9 upon the shelf.

The drawers are arranged in one or more tiers as previously explained,and inconnection with-each tier of drawers there is provided meansdesigned to be tensioned when any drawer in the respective tier ispulled to open position and which, when the drawer is released will actupon the drawer to'return fiit to closed or retracted position, and themeans referred to comprises a shaft 20 mounted for rotation in suitablebearings 21 withinthe space 8 at the rear of the cabinet. Secured by aset screw or the like 22 upon the shaft2O directly opposite the rearendof each drawer 13'is a'collar 23 provided upon itsperiphery with atooth or shoulder 2a. Arms 25radiate from the periphery of the collar 23-at the lower side thereof and support an annular pulley 26 having aperipheral groove 27, the pulley surrounding the collar and beingmaintained in concentric relation thereto byproviding the arms 25 withupturned outer ends '28 which engage the outer periphery of the pulley26. The pulley 26 is providedupon its inner periphery with a tooth or,shoulder 29; which, upon initial rotation of thepulley in'one directionis designed to strike against and coact with the tooth or shoulder 24 ofthe respective collar 23 to connect these parts for rotation inunison. Acoil spring 30' is associated with the shaft 20 and surrounds thesame atany convenient pointin its length andis secured at one end, as at 31, tothe rearwall 2 of the cabinet and at th other end, as at 32, to the saidshaft. The spring is so arranged that when the shaft 20 is rotated inone direction it will be tensioned and will tend to rotate the shaft in'the reverse direction and willin factdo so when the shaft is relieved ofthe influence of the rotating means. cable '33 is connected as at 34:with each drawer 13 at the rear end wall 17 thereof and iswound aboutthe respective pulley 26. 7

From the foregoing description it will be evident that when any one ofthe drawers in a tier ispulled to open position, the respective cable 33will be pulled and the respective pulley 26 will be rotated as the cableunwinds therefrom. In this 'rotative movement of the pulley the shoulder29 will-come into engagement with the shoulder 24 of the respectivecollar 23 and thus the shaft-'20 will be rotated in a direction to placethe spring 30 under direct tension. Such rotation of the shaft and theother collars 23 thereon will not however in any way affect the pulleys26 which are associated with the other drawers of the tier inasmuch asthe shoulders 24: of these collars 23 will be carried in a directiontorecede from the shoulders 29 of the respective pulleys. After thedrawer has been pulled to open position and the music roll removedtherefrom orreplaced therein and the drawer is released, the shaft 20will be immediately rotated in the reverse direction under theinfluence'of the tensioned spring 30, and the cable 33 connected withthe drawer -will be pulled in a rearward direction thus retracting thedrawer to a closed position.

In order that the drawer maybe permltted to remain in open position fora desired period of time without the necessity of holding it in suchposition, the shelves 7 are formed in their under sides'with transversein the present drawings illustrated as mounted upon the'said back,;willbe'supported upon any-other suitable fixed means pi'ovidedforthepurpose, as for example horizontal or vertical cleats.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is 1. Thecombination with a cabinet embodying a series of drawers, of meanscommon to all of the drawers operative toautomatically-returnany one ofthe drawers to closed position when drawn open and released.

r '2. The combination with a cabinet embodying a series ofdrawers,-ofmeans commonto all of the drawers operative to automaticallyreturn any one of the drawers to closed position when drawn open andreleased, and means for retaining any one of the drawers in openposition. i

"3. The "combination with a cabinet embodying a series of drawers, of ashaft rotatably mounted in alinement with the said series, means fortensioning the shaft when rotated inone direction and operative toreversely rotate the shaft when released,

and operative connection between each ofthe drawers and the said shaftfor rotating the shaft in the first-mentioned direction when anyone ofthe drawers is drawn to open position, i Y

4. The combination with a cabinet embodying a series of drawers, of ashaft disposed in juxtaposition to the rear ends of the drawers of theseries, operative connection between each of the drawers and the shaftarranged when any one of the drawers is drawn to open position to effectrotation of the shaft in one direction, and means for automaticallyrotating the shaft in the opposite direction when the drawer is releasedfor return to closed position.

5. The combination with a cabinet embodying a series of drawers, of ashaft arranged in juxtaposition to the rear ends of the drawers of theseries, pulleys upon the shaft arranged one opposite each of thedrawers, means for connecting the shaft with any one of the pulleys whenthe latter is rotated in one direction, a flexible element connectedwith each drawer and wound upon the respective pulley in a manner torotate the pulley in the stated direction when the drawer is drawn open,and means for automatically rotating the shaft in the opposite directionwhen the drawer is released for return to closed position.

In testimony whereof I aflix In signature.

GUIDO MERL [L.s.]

